Case Report (Insomnia)

Psychological Conditions

People suffer from insomnia always have other symptoms. Depression, anxiety, anger issue and anemia, etc. When I see the insomnia patient, I have to differentiate insomnia types. Here is a typical insomnia case which has other symptoms.

She is in her early 30’s. It’s hard for her to fall asleep and she also wakes up frequently during sleep. She feels tired all the time. Indigestion often happens. she has a feeling of oppression on the chest. Her hands and feet are cold. her hair falls out a lot. I found palpitation on her abdomen and tender on hypochondriac area. Abdominal muscle tension was felt on my hand.Her tip of tongue is little red.

This case is not a typical insomnia type but I often see this kind of insomnia lately. According to Eastern Medicine, the mind resides in the Heart. When the Heart is disturbed by heat, the mind cannot reside peacefully. heat float upwards and it is leading to insomnia. This heat often caused by energy stagnation of the Liver meridian or the Gall Bladder meridian. Her insomnia is caused by heat from the Gall Bladder meridian. Heat from the Liver meridian usually start with anger but she does not complain about anger issue. Feeling of oppression on the chest, tender on hypochondriac area and falling hairs are typical symptoms of the Gall Bladder meridian.

I regulate the Gall Bladder meridian and the Heart meridian with acupuncture and prescribe the herbs such as Chai Hu, Ren Shen, Huang Qin, Long Gu. etc. In the beginning, her digestion get better and she feels easier to fall in sleep after 5 acupuncture session. she finally does not wake up during sleep after 10 acupuncture session. I prescribed the herbal formula for 10 days.